


Lifeline

by floorcoaster



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21722398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floorcoaster/pseuds/floorcoaster
Summary: Surprises aren't always super fun.
Relationships: Ginny Weasley/Blaise Zabini, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 18
Kudos: 129





	Lifeline

**Author's Note:**

> Written for bionically, who requested the prompt: "Well, this is awkward."
> 
> Not beta'd, not even reread. Haha.

LIFELINE

“Well, this is awkward.”

Hermione’s hand was still on the doorknob of the flat she shared with Ginny. She’d had plans to spend the evening at Flourish and Blotts, awaiting the book signing and release event of a new book she was excited to read. It was going to be her Christmas present to herself, but then Draco Malfoy had shown up, one thing had led to another, they’d argued, and he’d ‘accidentally’ spilled his hot chocolate on her brand new, crisp, white cashmere sweater. She knew it would require extremely delicate wand work to get the spot out, and he had sheepishly promised to save her spot in line while she went home to change. 

What Hermione hadn’t expected was to walk in on her roommate entertaining a guest on their shared sofa.

“Hermione!” Ginny screeched, grabbing the nearest thing to cover herself. It turned out to be the shirt of the gentlemen whose identity Hermione’s brain belatedly realized was Blaise Zabini.

“I’ll just… um...” said Hermione, hesitating. She needed to change. “I’ll be very quick.” She hurried to her room where she shut the door, wishing she could scrub her eyeballs. Zabini?? When had that happened? What had happened to… what’s his name, the equipment manager for the Harpies? Hermione shook her head. It wasn’t her business. She had to get back to the bookstore.

Quickly she changed and bolted through the house, trying not to notice how at ease Blaise was, standing mostly naked in her living room. 

“Later, Granger,” he said as the door closed behind her. 

Hermione shut her eyes tight, took a few breaths, then made her way back to Flourish and Blotts.

Malfoy was still in line, very near the front. She hurried to rejoin him, her mind trying desperately to think of something—anything—but the sight of Ginny and Blaise…. She stared at the floor and started muttering, “Christmas sweaters, tea leaves, blast-ended skrewts…”

“Er, is, everything all right?” she heard Draco ask.

“No, it’s not all right,” she said with a huffy whisper. “I just walked in on Ginny and… and Zabini!”

“So?” Draco asked after a moment. 

She jerked her head up to look him in the eye. “So?” she repeated, her voice rising. “That’s all you can say? I need to have my memory wiped after that… that… that display!” She shuddered.

Draco chuckled. “They’ve been dating for six months. You didn’t think they’d be shagging by now?”

Hermione gaped at him. “They… what!?” she whispered.

At that, Draco looked a little sheepish. “Oh, um, er, well—”

They’d reached the front of the line, and it was their turn to buy the book and meet the author. But Hermione was so discombobulated by everything that had happened in the past ten minutes, she barely even looked in her direction. She simply paid, let her book be signed, then dragged Draco away as soon as he had finished his transaction. 

“You’re telling me they’ve been together for awhile?” she demanded, backing him against the wall. She felt a little crazy, but she had been traumatized, for Merlin’s sake! And now to find out that her best friend, the witch Hermione lived with, had been seeing someone for half a year and hadn’t bothered to tell anyone?

“Um, perhaps you should talk to her?” Draco suggested half-heartedly. 

“No. Come with me.” Without waiting for a response, Hermione grabbed him again and dragged him down the alley to her building, up the stairs, down the hall, stopping outside her door once more. “I’m coming in there!” she yelled as loudly as she could. “I’d prefer not to have a repeat experience like the first one, if you don’t mind!” Then she dramatically flung open the door and pulled Draco through with her.

Blaise and Ginny were sitting on the sofa, Ginny with her head in her hands, Blaise with an arm around her shoulders, speaking calmly to the red-head. He looked up and when he saw Draco, he smirked. “Wow, Draco, that was quick! Already back to her flat—”

“Shut your hole, Zabini,” Draco gritted out. 

Hermione released him as though burned and gaped at everyone. Finally her eyes landed on her friend. “Ginny?” she said softly.

The other witch looked up, tear streaks staining her cheeks. “Hermione. I—I’m so sorry.”

Hermione crossed to the sofa and knelt down so she could look her friend in the eye. “Hey, Gin. I don’t care who you’re seeing. Why didn’t you tell us? Tell _me_ , at least?”

Ginny shrugged dejectedly. “I figured you’d tell my brothers. And I didn’t want them to know.”

“But Malfoy got to know?” Hermione said, letting a twinge of hurt into her tone. “And I would never, ever betray a confidence! You know how I feel about snitches.”

Ginny gave a half-smile. “Yeah. I don’t know. It was stupid. I’m sorry.”

Hermione hugged her and Ginny cried a few more tears. “I care more that I had to see Blaise’s arse than anything else.” Ginny laughed in her arms, then pulled away and wiped her eyes. 

“Thanks, Hermione. You won’t tell?” 

“No, but you should. Eventually.” Hermione glanced at Blaise to see the concern and unabashed affection for her friend on his face. “Probably soon.”

Ginny nodded and sighed. “I know. I should.”

“Bring him to the Burrow tomorrow,” Hermione suggested brightly. Draco made some kind of gagging sound, and Hermione wanted to kick him. Why was he there, anyway? Oh, right. She’d brought him. It hadn’t been a terribly conscious decision on her part.

“You think?” Ginny said doubtfully. “Ron will lose his mind.”

“Too late,” muttered Draco. 

Hermione glared at him over her shoulder. Then she turned back to Ginny. “I’ll be right there with you. I am on your side. I’ll support you.” She saw that Blaise seemed pleased. “What do you say?”

“Maybe,” said Ginny. “But—”

“Ginny,” said Blaise, his deep voice rumbling. He took her hand and gently turned her chin so she would look at him. “You know that I love you. I am fine with whatever you choose.”

Ginny sniffed, looked at Hermione, then threw her arms around Blaise. “Okay,” she said, shakily but with an awkward laugh. “Let’s do it. Let’s tell them.”

Hermione beamed at her friend, then felt a gentle pull on her elbow. Oh. Right. Malfoy. He nodded toward the door, and Hermione followed him into the hallway, not knowing why she did it. Yes, she was happy for her friend, and one look at Blaise had convinced her of how he felt about Ginny. But it was a lot to take in. 

“You, uh, want to get a drink?” Draco asked.

Hermione nodded absently. She followed him listlessly back to the main Alley, hugging herself and trying to process everything.

“Blaise is a good man,” said Draco gently after they’d been seated at a booth for a few minutes. 

She looked at him then, really registering that she was at a pub with Draco Malfoy. “I’m sure. I trust Ginny. It’s just so surprising. None of us had a clue.”

“I’ve known since the beginning,” he said. “He’s fancied her for years.”

“Really?” she said with a gasp. “Years?”

He nodded, staring at his bottle but not taking a drink. “It’s possible, you know. There’s this one, shining thing in your life, one brilliant, perfect moment, and it burns into your soul. From there it sends a thread through your life, linking you back to that moment, that person, giving you peace and a kind of anchor you hadn’t thought possible. You can’t be the same after that, no matter what happens to you, no matter what kind of shit you go through. That link is forever. Even if you never see that person again. And when you do…” He chuckled and took a very, very long drink. 

Hermione stared at him curiously. “And you’re saying Blaise feels that way about Ginny?” Merlin, that sounded intense. 

Draco shook his head and wouldn’t meet her gaze. “No. I’m… just saying it’s possible.”

She shivered at the thought of what he’d said, then really looked at him. There was something in the tilt of his head, the nervous drumming of his fingers on the table, the way his eyes kept darting around the room. It hit her then that he’d been talking about himself. 

“Draco?” she said with a whisper.

His eyes locked on hers. “What?” 

She wanted to know what that moment was for him, and she stared at him as though the answer could be found in his eyes. There had been just a hint—a tiny, infinitesimal suggestion, an inkling—in Draco’s voice, in the way his lips twitched around some of his words, that had her thinking, wondering, if maybe… maybe he’d meant her? Her breath caught in her throat at the thought, and she looked away, embarrassed. What kind of a person was she? Why on earth would _she_ of all people be Draco Malfoy’s lifeline? It was absurd, really. 

“Nothing,” she said briskly. “I’m sorry. I should go.” She started to rummage through her bag for a few coins to pay for her drink, but then Draco reached across the table and put a hand on hers. She immediately felt the delightful flutter of chemistry when their skin touched, and she looked at him in surprise. 

“You could stay,” he said simply, turning away to take another drink.

He appeared very calm, in control—almost too measured. His jaw was tight just so. It was barely anything, perhaps just an idea. It didn’t have to mean anything. But what if it did? 

She decided to stay and find out.


End file.
